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Slideshow (101 photos)

By the end of the trip, Rayko's tips were bleeding

Ring for protection and belays

A route book; every tower has one of these

An open route book

Standing in front of the second Bergsport Arnold store, this one in Bad Schandau

Trolly car ferries tourists from Bad Schandau up the valley to the trailheads

Twin towers; we climbed the tower on the left

Unknown climber peering down from the top of a neighboring tower

Climbers dot the various towers in the Bielatal region

Climbers dot the various towers in the Bielatal region

Giant rappel rings; the flat spot on the top is so that you can clip a caribiner to it

Nordwestweg: Bomber thread

A climber on a difficult route (you can just make out his red pants on the upper left side)

The amazing Frienstein; we climbed on the neighboring formation

Nordwand: At the belay after a terrifying lead, the scariest of the trip (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Nordwand: Roping up for what turned out to be the scariest lead of the trip (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Nordwand: Rayko attempts the second pitch, but is off route on a 5.10c

Nordwand: Folling the first pitch, which had cracks, but no gear (if ONLY I had a cam)

Südwand: Approaching the belay at the end of the first pitch; notice the furry runner around the large flake (the furrier the better) (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Goldsteigkante: Topping out on the second pitch (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Belaying from the top of another tower (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Goldsteigkante: The start of the route involved very pocketed rock with good pro (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Goldsteigkante: Moving through the super featured rock on the first pitch (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Südwand: Looking back at the second pitch, a traversing affair with many tied off flakes and threads

Südwand: Starting up the second pitch -- a bit of a run after the first bolt (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Wahnsinnsverschneidung: A jammed knot before the real difficulties; Rayko rappelled from this one (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Goldsteigkante: Following the first pitch, very pumpy here with poor gear

Südwand: Following the honeycomb section of the second pitch, just before the traverse

Südwand: Following the honeycomb section of the second pitch

Alter Web: To get off one tower, we rappelled into a gap and climbed another tower which had the rappel line

Direkter Südwestweg: Prepping for a hard lead

Direkter Südwestweg: Scoping out the route ahead, very steep here

A climber on difficult route (he's in orange and yellow)

Cool honeycomb rock covered the entire second pitch

Cool honeycomb rock covered the entire second pitch

Südwand: A long pitch of runout crack climbing, but with good plates on the face. The chimney topout was terrifying (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Südwand: Following the chimney topout, very scary to lead

Knirpelwand Direkte: Another honeycombed face protected with hourglasses

A good route photo; the long crack on the left tower is Südwand, and the black pocketed area is Knirpelwand Direkte

Our apartment in Hohnstein, just 100 yards from the town square…ideally located

The midieval town of Hohnstein

The main square of Hohnstein; Bernd Arnold's sports shop is on the right

Dinner in the basement of the town hall; pretty good food, but not as good as in Velden

Standing in front of the Bergsport Arnold store in Hohnstein

The castle and bridge for tourists

Türkischer Honig: Leaning back on jugs near the top of the route (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Türkischer Honig: Runout to the first bolt, then more reasonable and juggy

The amazing Höllenhund wall; we climbed a route on the far right side where the rock is even more featured (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: High on the wall at a hanging belay (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Feeling stoked after leading the first pitch (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: At the second belay…cold as hell (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Removing a thread on the third pitch (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: On the third pitch (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: On the third pitch (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: The 4th and final pitch involved leaning across to the next tower, then climbing the face (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Traverse just before the topout (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Working on some pro -- a threaded runner (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Looking down from the first belay at the super featured rock and intricate protection

Talweg: Starting up the overhanging wall -- a real head game (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Looking up at the second pitch -- many tied off threads (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Roping up below the 300'-high overhanging wall with…you guessed it…knots (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: Looking down at Rayko at the first belay

Talweg: Looking down at Rayko at the first belay

Talweg: Rayko is on top of the main wall, on an isolated island summit

Talweg: In a sea of towers

Talweg: Following the first pitch, removing a thread

Talweg: Super featured rock on the first pitch

Talweg: Following the second pitch

Talweg: Nice slung flake, but it feels like it might rip off

Herkules Rippe: Following the first pitch on yet another pigging cold day (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Herkules Rippe: Approaching the belay (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Herkules Rippe: Threaded hourglasses work better if you equalize the load by feeding the knot into the constriction

Herkules Rippe: Rayko at the first pitch belay

Herkules Rippe: Rayko far below at the P1 belay

The river Elbe with many exposed bits of rock

Direkte Südwestwand auch: More knot climbing

We climbed on the smooth wall on the left, where everything was hard 5.10

Südhangel: Following the first pitch, leaning way back on a flake (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Südwestwand: Rayko laybacks around a flake at the top of the pitch

Südwestverschneidung: Belaying at the top of the Lokomotive; notice the ring and "towel rack" bar to prevent the rope from creating deep grooves in the rock (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Südwestverschneidung: Writing my entry in the route book (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

This crag is supposed to resemble a locomotive. It's actually a relatively thin grouping of towers on top of a high ridge

The Locomotive crag seen from the top of Honigstein

Rayko looking for his name in the route book

Dampflok: The initial moves, protected by a small jammed knot

Mess of towers as seen from the summit of the Locomotive

Talweg: Tied-off flakes and hourglasses serve as the anchor at the top of the first pitch

Talweg: Making the crux moves at the start of the route -- an overhanging offwidth crack protected by jammed knots, the first knots I placed in Elbsandstein (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Talweg: A small jammed knot on the second pitch

Talweg: Second pitch squeeze chimney

Rappelling the backside of the tower down to the grass; the terrain is comfortably navigated with bare feet because of the sand

Morgengebet: An overhanging handcrack; the crux was the slopey, sandy moves after the crack (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Farm country as seen from the top of Pabst

Farm country as seen from the top of Pabst

Approaching the crag from town; our first route in Elbsandstein was the crack on the right side of the third tower (from the left)

Looking over the town below the crag

Ostkante: Browsing the route book (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Ostkante: Huge jugs at the top of the route (Copyright © Rayko Halitschke)

Ostkante: Belaying from a giant hole in the top of the tower

Leaving one tower and climbing the next one over, in search of a rappel line

More rappelling from rings; nice redundancy